The Stolen Girl arrives on ITV tonight as Disney deepen content pact

The Stolen Girl, a five-part adaptation of Alex Dahl’s bestselling novel Playdate that originally launched on Disney+ last April, makes its UK debut on ITV on Wednesday, February 25; the first episode airs at 9pm and the remaining instalments will follow weekly. The move brings the psychological thriller and its cast to a broader linear audience at a moment when ITV and Disney are deepening a content-sharing pact.

A five-part thriller from Alex Dahl

The Stolen Girl was first released on Disney+ in April last year and is produced by Quay Street Productions and Brightstar; it adapts Dahl’s novel Playdate into a dark, tense five-part drama about the fallout when a child goes missing. The series follows a mother whose young daughter disappears after a sleepover, unfolding into a story of deception, family secrets and betrayal.

Cast: where you've seen the stars before

Leading the cast as Elisa Blix is Denise Gough; Elisa is a cabin manager on private jets and the mother of nine-year-old Lucia, who asks to have her first sleepover at her new friend Josie’s house. Gough is known for Olivier Award-winning stage work in People, Places and Things and Angels in America and on screen for roles including Dedra Meero in Andor, Connie Mortensen in Too Close and the titular role in the thriller Paula.

Jim Sturgess plays Fred Blix, a criminal barrister whose world is turned upside down when Lucia is kidnapped; Sturgess’s credits include Jude in Across the Universe, Ben Campbell in 21 and Dexter Mayhew in the 2011 One Day film. Holliday Grainger appears as Rebecca Walsh, Josie’s mother, and is recognisable from The Capture, in which she stars as DCI Rachel Carey; that series is set to return for a third season this March. Ambika Mod plays Selma Desai, a driven journalist at Dash Voice who, feeling the police are not moving fast enough, leads her own investigation; Mod’s recent credits include Emma Morley in the 2024 Netflix One Day and Shruti Acharya in the 2022 drama This Is Going to Hurt.

Other roles include DI Shona Sinclair as the lead investigator on Lucia’s case, Bronagh Waugh in a supporting role and Xavier Samuel among the cast; Marcus Turner is named in the story as a hotelier and Elisa’s former lover who is currently serving time in prison. The plot point that Elisa and Fred arrive the morning after the sleepover to find Rebecca, Josie and Lucia vanished and a cleaner telling them “no one lives here” is central to the opening episode.

ITV and Disney expand their content pact

The Stolen Girl will air on ITV1 under the banner “Disney+ presents a Hulu Original, ” part of an expanded content-sharing agreement that will also bring The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox to ITV1 later in the year. The deal follows earlier moves between the companies in July last year, when Disney+ added a “Taste of ITVX” rail and ITVX added a “Taste of Disney+” rail to provide curated content from each service.

Karl Holmes, General Manager of Disney+ EMEA, said: “This marks an exciting next step in our collaboration with ITV. We’re thrilled that two of our most compelling original series will air on ITV’s powerful primetime platform, introducing millions more viewers to Hulu Originals on Disney+. ” Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment at ITV, added: “We are delighted to be deepening our relationship with Disney. Bringing these premium Original series into our primetime linear schedule is fantastic for ITV audiences. This extension perfectly complements our existing relationship and showcases the strength of the content-sharing model we established last summer. ”

Reception and viewing options

Early audience reaction has been strong: on IMDb one fan wrote, “Very suspenseful! I thoroughly enjoyed this, ” and another described the series as “binge-worthy, ” saying they “saw the entire show in ONE GO. ” The Stolen Girl’s five episodes will air weekly on ITV after the 9pm premiere on Wednesday, February 25, and the complete boxset is available to stream now on ITVX for those who prefer to catch up at once.

Next on the schedule from the same content agreement is The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which is slated to run on ITV1 later in the year as part of the same “Disney+ presents a Hulu Original” strand; the expanded arrangement follows the July additions of the Taste of ITVX and Taste of Disney+ rails and aims to bring more Hulu originals to UK linear viewers.